Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (13 September 1899-30 November 1938) was the founder and first leader of the Iron Guard far-right political party of Romania. Born Corneliu Zelinski to a Polish father and German wife, he espoused Romanian nationalism and led attacks against Jews and the government until his assassination in November 1938.

Biography
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was born on 13 September 1899 in Husi, Vaslui County, Romania to a Polish father from Bukovina and a Volksdeutsche (ethnically-German) mother. He was too young for the World War I draft in 1916 and failed to join the Romanian Army. During the years following the war, he hated communism due to Comintern's resentment of Romania's Interwar Years borders and the agitation in Moldova. In March 1923 he helped with the formation of the National-Christian Defense League and took part in anti-Semitic activities, attacking Jews in Romania. Later, he left behind his mentor A.C. Cuza and formed several far-right movements that the intelligentsia and peasants supported. He carried out pogroms in Greater Romania, and his new Iron Guard movement assassinated corrupt politicians such as Prime Minister Ion G. Duca. Codreanu wanted to form an alliance with Nazi Germany, whose leader Adolf Hitler shared many of his views. In 1937, King Carol II of Romania prevented him from holding political office by supporting the fascist National Christian Party over him, and Codreanu was later arrested and sentenced to hard labor. On 30 November 1938, Codreanu and 13 other prisoners were garroted and shot, with the police saying that they tried to flee custody. Horia Sima became the new Iron Guard leader after Codreanu's death.